FEATURE // VINYL THEATRE

January 17, 2016

When Keegan Calmes was learning how to play the guitar, he discovered he had a new passion: creating music. “I never really wanted to play anyone else’s music when I first began playing,” he shares. “I always wanted to make my own version of everything.” He thinks back to a time when he was around twelve years old; he had just finished a music lesson during which he wrote over the music sheet his instructor gave him with his own version. “I always wanted to create. I never really found a lot of meaning behind covering other songs, or playing other people’s songs,” he stresses.

Keegan met keyboardist Chris Senner while still in high school. Chris then recruited drummer Nick Cesarz and bassist Josh Pothier. Their addition was “seamless,” according to Keegan. “They were the missing pieces to the band,” he shares. However, their progress came to a halt once they graduated high school. Most went to different colleges, which meant they had to work on the music apart. Despite the various means of communication they had, including email, Skype, and texting, creating music while being so far from each other was one of the most challenging things they’ve faced thus far.

“I think that music—true music—really shines when you’re with somebody else,” Keegan explained. “It’s just so different… So much more real. I feel like maybe those difficulties got harder and harder by just emailing. When we got together in person, it all changed and washed away.”